


Once You've Met Someone--

by silentghost



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Friendship, Gen, Movie Night, No Slash, Not Beta Read, Slice of Life, give kagami more friends 2021, set after friendship day....yikes, there's like no plot they just watch a movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28848954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentghost/pseuds/silentghost
Summary: After Friendship Day, Marinette puts more effort into being Kagami's friend. She invites her to movie night and Kagami has some realizations.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire & Kagami Tsurugi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Nino Lahiffe & Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Once You've Met Someone--

\--you never really forget them.

“So!” Marinette claps her hands. “What do you guys want to watch?” 

Kagami just watches the others bicker over movie titles and takes a bite of the croissant in her hand. Balancing schoolwork, fencing, catching up on her French, and bearing the weight of her mother’s expectations takes up a lot of Kagami’s time. Such is life sometimes, she supposes. Friendship is hard to come by when you’ve spent years training to surpass the achievements of your family.

When Marinette Dupain-Cheng invited her to a movie night with the rest of her friends after the Friendship Day Situation™, Kagami couldn’t help but be suspicious.  _ Is this a genuine attempt at reconciliation, _ she wondered, _ or some weird flex? A “haha, you may come from a prestigious family but I have people who actually remember my birthday” sort of thing?  _ She has her pride to think of, after all. Growing up, people would pretend to be her friend as a way to get close to gain her mother’s favor or get close to the Agreste’s-- only for them to leave once they realized they couldn’t. This kind of rejection and humiliation stings, but it’s not new.

But even now, sitting at the end of the long couch of Marinette’s living room, Kagami has to stop herself from going down that hole. Marinette sounded so ashamed after fucking up Kagami’s one chance at making a new friend last week. Kagami had to spar for 5 hours straight that day as a punishment for lying to her mother, but the sore muscles were worth it when Marinette sincerely apologized and even sent her a box of macarons. Marinette cares by giving, she knows, so to be gifted one of her family bakery’s specialties felt like a huge honor.

The other blue-haired girl meant it when she asked Kagami to hang out tonight, she concludes.

They’re all sitting comfortably, sprawled under blankets that Marinette brought down from her room. The gathering is small, only five people in total-- she was introduced to Nino and Alya, whom she greeted with wariness-- and Adrien saved the spot next to him on the couch. A week ago she would have been ecstatic. And now? She admits she wasn’t exactly subtle when she thought she liked boys. She’s a big girl now, and she's realized there’s more to life than chasing after a guy you were expected to like. She hopes that perhaps she and Adrien could remain friends.

Kagami turns her attention to what's going on in front of her. Adrien and Nino are on the floor grappling for the remote while Alya records them with her phone out.

“You chose last week!” the blond yells as they tumble around the room. "It's my turn!” Alya snickers in glee. Nino succeeds in pinning him down with his hat and glasses askew. 

"But you always choose romcoms! I love you, dude, but it has to stop. There's three other people here."

"This always happens." Marinette sits on the armrest near Kagami and sighs, exasperated but amused. Kagami can only nod. She plucks the remote from Nino's hand, stating, "This is Kagami's first movie night, she deserves to watch something good!"

"Why don't we just ask her what  _ she _ wants to watch?" Alya turns to face Kagami. She raises an eyebrow.

Kagami regards her carefully. She doesn't talk to anyone outside of her class besides Adrien-- and now Marinette, she guesses. Going with her gut instinct, she says the first movie that pops into her head.

" _ Spirited Away _ ?"

Adrien perks up. "I  _ love _ that movie! It's on Netflix too!"

"Ooh, I've been wanting to watch it for a while," says Nino. 

"I grew up on Ghibli films." Kagami looks around. Adrien and Nino are excited, Alya looks interested, and Marinette's smiling the way she does when something goes her way. "I think they're what you would classify as 'wholesome.'"

"Perfect!" Marinette cheers. She sets up the movie, switches off the lights, and sits back next to Alya. They're arranged in an L shape, Kagami at the end with Adrien to her left and Marinette, Alya, and then Nino after him.

During the movie Kagami thinks of herself as Chihiro for a moment: crossing from the world she knew behind into a parallel one with river gods and curses and giant steamed buns. In a way she's also crossed a bridge and is trying to figure out her place here. It's very strange, navigating conversations with these people she doesn't know. Strange-- yet something she could get used to.

The Friendship Day Event was supposed to give her a jumpstart in making friends, to introduce her to someone new. She had her friend guide open on her phone just for the occasion. It was rocky at first, but she genuinely had a nice time running around with Marinette. (If she ignores the disappointment in her mother's voice when she was scolded in front of Marinette, she could say it was practically perfect.)

Things turned out alright in the end, right?

Kagami’s thrilled to hear Marinette point out the detail in the food animation and Nino marveling at the size of the bathhouse. Later on Alya whispers to him in a not-so-quiet voice about the beauty of the story and the pacing.

Right.

The movie comes to a close, and the sound of the end song sends a shiver down Kagami's spine. She feels changed, at peace. Centered.  _ Spirited Away  _ always evokes a strong sense of nostalgia that follows her for days after watching it. The kids restlessly wriggle around as Marinette turns on a light.

"We should watch the other Ghibli movies. We could marathon them one weekend," Adrien exclaims.

"Hell yeah, I'm down." Nino holds a hand out and they high five.

"Well, Kagami," Alya says, "I was wrong about you."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Marinette whines. Alya throws a handful of popcorn at her.

"Thanks." Kagami bares her teeth in what she hopes is a convincing smile.

"No, really. I'm sorry for what I said about you last week. I judged you without ever knowing you, and that was unfair of me. Adrien told me you two have similar situations with your parents and it would be hypocritical of me to treat you differently than I treat him." She fiddles with the charms on her phone. "So-- truce?" 

Kagami doesn’t have to dwell on it for long to know she’s being sincere. “I accept your truce but I think being friends would be better,” she says. They share a look and that’s that.

She understands why Adrien fought so hard to go to school now. Their parents may still control other aspects of their lives, but they can’t take away the people they meet, the experiences only teens can have. It's like the Tiger Balm she uses after practice. Hanging out like this is _ healing _ . She doesn't need to hold herself above everyone else. She can just be Kagami. Chihiro may be her favorite character but she feels more like Haku-- someone who discovered that what they were missing for most of their life was right under their nose the entire time. Kagami leaves Marinette's home after promising to come over again next week feeling lighter.

**Author's Note:**

> *slaps roof of fic* this bad boy took me a whole month to write :)) writer's block is a bitch.
> 
> this one goes out to all my friends i lost contact w bc of the pandemic. i miss you. i hope our paths cross again one day.


End file.
